# Old Tarantula — Zuni Folktales character guide

> Old Tarantula in Zuni Folktales by Frank Hamilton Cushing.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** The Old Tarantula, Old Tarantula, the old Tarantula, the Aged Tarantula

**First appearance:** 0001-zuni-folktales

## Snapshot

A cunning thief who strips Swift-runner of his beautiful garments and retreats to a den so deep the whole town cannot dig him out.

## Who they are

Old Tarantula's theft triggers a communal crisis, sending men, women, and children with digging-sticks and baskets to tunnel after him until they strike the mountain's bedrock. His den becomes a symbol of elusive wrongdoing, forcing the town's elders to seek supernatural aid from the Great Kingfisher. As the antagonist of this pursuit tale, Tarantula embodies the challenge that tests a community's resourcefulness and the limits of ordinary effort.

## In the story

### [The Young Swift-Runner Who Was Stripped of His Clothing by the Aged Tarantula](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/zuni_folktales_se/chapters/the-young-swift-runner-who-was-stripped-of-his-clothing-by-the-aged-tarantula)

The cunning creature who tricks Swift-runner and steals his clothing.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/zuni_folktales_se/characters/old_tarantula
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/zuni_folktales_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/zuni_folktales_se/characters